TGS, Spring 1999: Show Disappointments

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It wasn't all smiles in Japan this year. Find out what made us leave the show with frowns.

By Craig Harris

We certainly had one heck of a time running through the two convention halls, seeing everything there was to see from all the Japanese gaming vendors. However, we were expecting a few specifics that a handful of companies just didn't deliver.

No Gran Turismo 2 Sony had the largest space on the show floor with the least amount of games to show. One of the biggest games the company has in its lineup didn't make an appearance. Gran Turismo 2 is an absolutely huge PlayStation game, and its no-show made us wonder if the game will be ready to ship in its summer release time. Hell, there were games shown that were much further from completion. So why no GT2? Couldn't they bump Um Jammer Lammy off of a couple of the thousands of demo systems on the show floor?

No PlayStation 2 All right, we're only regretting being in Japan for one reason: while we were out here, our colleagues were chumming it up at the Game Developers Conference, seeing the PlayStation 2 [demos] in action for the first time. At the very least Sony could have had a continuously running tape of all the technology demos somewhere in its massive booth. But nope, what we were left with was a tiny black sign tucked away to the side that said that Sony wouldn't be discussing anything about its next generation PlayStation at the Tokyo Game Show. Ah well.

Shenmue not ready for Prime Time OK, so it's not PlayStation stuff, but it's theoretically an awesome game. All the hype that's been surrounding the Dreamcast's flagship game made us expect that Sega would really exploit the game's supposed uniqueness. While Sega did dedicate dozens of demo units in its booth specifically for Shenmue, there were only two parts of the game ready to play: A Quick Timer Event where you push the D-pad, A or B button at the time the game tells you; and a basic real-time fighting sample. It did show off how awesome the game looks and how unique the game will be, but only two parts of this massive game? Come on. And the word that Sega will split the game into two parts just goes on to prove that Yu Suzuki's team may be over their heads on this one. [Ed note: Now can you all tell why we call him Cranky Craig?!!! Can you?!! Can you?!!!]

Underwhelming show in general. The show certainly had its upsides, but the lack of any really big game being present just didn't ignite that needed spark. There wasn't any game at the show where you someone and said, "Man, you just have to see this one!" Dino Crisis, Resident Evil 3, and Dead or Alive 2 were on tape, Gran Turismo 2 wasn't even there, and some of the biggest titles (like Um Jammer Lammy) were already released and ready to buy.